Montenegro: Church, Prayer, and Shoe Boxes
December 15, 2011
From our friend and co-worker Vladimir Cizmanski:
Dear fellow soldiers in the Kingdom,
After a truly long time, I am getting in touch through this letter in which I want to share with you about the last few months.
Firstly I would like to thank all of you who carry us in your prayers and who support us financially.
We have been learning over the last few months what it means to be faithful and to serve despite disappointments and watching the status quo. We would like to see growth in individuals in church but, unfortunately, we are witnesses to the fact that some people who were encouragements to us in the fellowship are now in a crisis zone where they have grown cold towards the fellowship and even allowed themselves to commit serious transgressions of God’s principles. We are praying for them that they would return to the embrace of God’s love and again taste God’s forgiveness and the refreshment of His presence as well as fellowship with their brothers and sisters. This is nothing new, as the Apostle Paul’s letters to various churches show and for whom he often shed tears.
We are praying for workers who would devote themselves to the teenage work. We are encouraged by the interest from this section of the population about when we will start these meetings. We realize that before an individual comes forward who could lead this ministry, we need to start the meetings ourselves with the resources we have available.
We are thankful to God that He has enabled us to have help from a married couple, Želimir (Magi) and Klara, from Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They decided to attend a second year of training at the HUB Bible School. The syllabus is based on students attending three weeks of lessons and then they are in a church which they have chosen as the place for their practical work. In this way, they will be a great support in several areas of the ministry of the church in Podgorica.
Prayer Conference in Macedonia
We are very glad that an initiative has started to organize an unusual conference, the point of which is PRAYER. We all love to hear inspirational sermons – which are of course necessary – but we rarely and only briefly dedicate time to prayer. Some of our brothers in Croatia came up with the idea of organizing this sort of conference in Macedonia, as the starting point from which the Gospel began to spread 2000 years ago first through the Balkans, and then to the rest of Europe. It was a time of blessing and refreshing our vision as well as renewing our fellowship with brothers and sisters from Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece and Albania. The next conference of this type should be happening in Montenegro in February.
12th November – All-Montenegrin conference
In line with our agreed good tradition among Evangelical churches in Montenegro, a joint meeting was held on November 12 in Niksic where about 120 people gathered together. It was a joy to get together and see people who we do not meet so often, but it is also sad that year after year the number of people attending is staying the same. That means that, despite the small growth in terms of new people, there are a similar number who have stopped coming.
The speaker was Miško Horvatek from Croatia who spoke about the influence of the Reformation in the Middle Ages, and the effects of which we need today in the 21st century.
Imminent distribution of shoeboxes and the Christmas program.
One more season of distributing Christmas shoe boxes is upon us. This means lots of work, organization, contacting and driving throughout Montenegro. Your prayers will be of great help to us so that we would carry out this task in the best way.
We are praying for new contacts, safety on the roads, for a good time and for unity in our work so that above all God’s glory may be made visible. This year we plan to distribute 20,000 shoe boxes from Samaritans’ Purse.
We wish you Merry Christmas and blessed New 2012, Year
Many greetings in His love,
Vladimir and Marijana
News from Montenegro
June 29, 2011
Here’s an update from Vladimir Cizmanski, pastor of the Brethren Assembly in Podgorica —
Stolen Minibus
Some of you know that a few months ago someone broke into our house while we were travelling in Serbia. Only a few small things were taken, but these included the key to the minibus parked outside. The thief drove off the minibus during the day and drove about 500 km.
We were in two minds about what would happen because we had heard how some vehicles get disassembled and transported to neighboring countries. We reported the theft to the police, and for several days we didn’t have any information. We prayed that the Lord would restore it to us because it was so significant in several of the ministries that we are involved in. We had received it as a gift from God and it wasn’t clear to us why the Lord had allowed this theft.
While the investigation was under way something very positive happened: two of our neighbors with whom we have good relationships had not talked to each other for years – they had quarreled about land ownership – basically both of them wanted to help us in this situation.
While the police were supposed to arrive and make an inventory of the stole items they were ‘forced’ to start a conversation and in this way one of them invited the other for coffee. This was a sign of reconciliation! Several days later one of them approached me with a joyful and smiling face and said: I have made peace with my neighbor!
Another thing was that really had good opportunities to talk to various inspectors who came to our house about God because they all asked me what I did as a job. Maybe this is an answer to why this all happened – a renewal of friendship and witnessing to people who we would otherwise not be able to reach.
The Lord caused our minibus to be found and returned with only slight damage, praise the Lord.
Book Fair
We decided to take the step to be on public show and to make contact with people through this event. There were many interesting comments and reactions which encourage us that the heavens above Montenegro are opening more and more. We believe that the Lord is preparing the opening of many hearts which will in the near future follow Jesus Christ are their Lord.
This was also a good exercise for us to be sharing the Good News as a team and fellowship.
Lazar and Izabela
We rejoice that one more Christian marriage has been made in Montenegro. Lazar, who has been in our fellowship since 2006, decided to marry Izabela (22) from Kikinda, Serbia, who gave her life to Christ when she was 15. They need our prayers to find good jobs and live independent of help from other people.
Milivoje
We rejoice at Milivoje’s decision to follow Christ as his Lord and Savior. This man, who has gone through many unpleasant things in his life but always with a positive attitude and spirit, now has one more true dimension to his life.
He has socialized for a long time with Nedeljko (a member of the fellowship) who told him the gospel. However, besides the faith that he had in Jesus as his Savior he was emotionally rooted in the Orthodox religion into which he had been born.
One day the book “Orthodoxy Enlightened by the Gospel” came into his hands. He quickly read it and then everything clicked into place. He became aware of the background of the religion and traditions which are practiced and decided that he would no longer take part in them. Now he is a free man who loves the Lord, who comes to our meetings regularly and who wants to be baptized soon. We believe that his life experience will be a great encouragement to the fellowship.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
In Christ’s love
Vladimir and Marijana
Good News from Montenegro
March 16, 2011
From Vladimir!
Dear friends,
Thank you so much for your prayers. God answered in miraculous way! The mini bus is found! It was less than 5 minutes away from police station by walk! Parked in parking lot between buildings even unlocked. Police was taking fingerprints from doors searching for those who did this crime. It has few stripes on both sides and one hit on the back. The fuel was spent almost totally and I could see that they were driving close to 500 km. I am thankful that there is no more damage than that. It is obvious that they are not skilful to drive so big vehicle. The battery was totally dead but we managed to drive it back home.
Thanks God they didn’t have good plan to make money from it even they wanted.
Today some police inspectors came to our house and since I wasn’t at home Marijana had opportunity to talk about the faith and church. They were really interested to know more.
We are so thankful to the Lord and also to you for all your prayers. Thank you for your shared concerns for this issue.
Regarding Marijana I just got information that she is going for MR in Novi Sad, Serbia on 13th April (waiting list is making schedule for August!). We hope that then we will have all information regarding the stage of her endometriosis.
Many greetings in His great love,
Vladimir
Hard Times in Montenegro – Please Pray
March 13, 2011
Here is an update from pastor Vladimir Cizmanski —
Hello friends,
We were in Serbia for five days trying to make as much as possible for Marijana’s health situation (she was diagnosed two months ago with endometriosis). We were able to make our documents for health insurance and she was able to do checkups by ultrasound in good hospital in Novi Sad. She still needs to go to MR but since the waiting list there is really long (3-5 months) it looks like she will need to go to private medical service to do further investigation.
On the way back to Podgorica I got phone call. Lazar – Simon was calling me to check with me if I was moving our minibus somewhere else in meantime. Very quickly we came to sad conclusion that our vehicle is stolen! It was parked in our fenced yard where our neighbors could see everything!
We have information that somebody took it on Thursday afternoon. The key was in our house and of course the door of our house was broken. Some other small stuff are missing from the house also.
We are very sorry for this happened. All of you who know more about our ministry with kids, teenagers and other church activities know how much we were using this great vehicle that could take 17 people and take many shoe boxes around.
Yesterday when police came to make notes about this, they told us that 90% of stolen cars they find but this is not car! Crime is unfortunately pretty high here and it is very possible that it could be disassembled and transported to Kosovo in parts. It is very clear that this action was managed by somebody who knew that we are not at home. We are always trying to have somebody at home when we are absent but this time we couldn’t find anyone.
We are asking you to pray for police to be led by God in order to be able to find this very needed vehicle for us.
Thank you in advance,
Vladimir
Montenegro and the USA
November 30, 2010
Vladimir Cizmanski, pastor of the Brethren Assembly in Montenegro, writes:
I can’t describe my impression that time is going so fast. My weeks feel like days. Whenever I speak with someone about the time they have same sense. Are our globe and watches turning faster? Technology is supposed to help us to do things in less time, but it looks it is not going that direction . . . .
To begin, I must say that our last teenage summer camp was so well organized that teenagers said they want to stay another week. They enjoyed it very much.
The Stoneworks team from Athens, Georgia was great, and there were about 20 teenage campers. All together there were 32 people.
This ministry is growing. We have to look for a new location since the old property can accommodate only around 25 people.
When September started, my wife and began preparations to go to Athens, Georgia where we visited with the church that sent the summer team.
It was an exciting time for us to spend 3 weeks with people that we got know in Montenegro through the camp ministry. Also it was very good to meet new people who we knew were great supporters of those who ministered in the camp.
We had only heard of St. James United Methodist Church but now we had opportunity to get a real feeling of the life at this church.
The warmth and acceptance that we experienced there was really refreshing. Marijana and I felt like we were in our own family.
We were also very happy to meet Mary Jean Preece, the Stoneworks Administrator. She, her husband and her parents took us to Stone Mountain.
This relaxing and refreshing time that was great gift for us. It was orchestrated by our Father to get us there at the perfect time of our lives. We needed it just at that time.
Now that we are back home, we face different challenges at the church. We need clear vision where we go and how to get there. I really want to develop the leadership at the church and I would appreciate very much your prayers regarding that. I started intensively to meet with two brothers to encourage them to get involved to take care of the flock as much as God is entrusting them.
Unfortunately, one other man said that he will not continue to come to church because he has struggles in life and it started to be very difficult for him to follow Jesus. Now he is back in his old style of worldly living and refusing any discussion about God. The only good thing in all of this is that he does want to stay in touch with us. Please pray for Momcilo because he also has (by the doctor’s diagnoses) psychological problems, but I believe there is also demonic power in his life.
Now face great task: distribution of shoe boxes at Christmastime! We will distribute about 20,000 shoe boxes this holiday. This is always a big project for us, as we distribute shoe boxes to people in need. We need your prayer for the good health, strength, good methods of sharing the Gospel, discipline, good weather, volunteers. . . .
We are planning to improve our Christmas program with puppets. This is is something completely new for us, and we have to practice a lot. We see good reactions from parents when they see our effort to do good things for them – they really appreciate that, but more importantly we have to realize that our God deserves for us to give Him our best for His glory. Read more
Done and Done!
July 28, 2010
I’ve just returned from Montenegro, where we had a great teen camp. Above you can see the campers, counselors and mission team. We had a house full!
The theme of the camp was What Does the Bible Say About God’s Love. The teenage members of the mission team did daily devotionals about God’s love for us, how we can love God, and how we can love others. We also had a very good discussion with the young men and women, separately, about godly relationships between men and women.
We also did a lot of hiking, sports, arts and crafts, and we had some very good food. The team brought some toritillas from the US (interestingly, Mission tortillas), and we had a very welcome Mexican meal. Team member Hannah Cole is at left with the treasure.
Attending the camp were young people from all over Montenegro — this is truly the national Christian teen camp. This is the third year we’ve held the camp and it continues to grow. Our long-term missionary Christina Melton did an excellent job preparing for and leading the camp. I continue to be impressed with her skills and heart.
I’m now in Russia for just a few days before heading over to Estonia to meet our first ever mission team there. That will be my next post . . . .
Montengro Camp Slideshow
July 20, 2010
Here’s a quick slideshow of the first few days of camp.
I’m posting this from the shores of Black Lake in the Durmitor National Forest, not too far from where we’re staying. The kids are now on a photo scavenger hunt, taking pictures of places we scouted a few days ago.
The theme for this year’s camp is The Love of God. We’re talking about what the Bible says about love, how God loves us, how we can love God, and how we can love other people. We’ll focus on boy-girl relationships, since this is an important issue for these kids.
We’re having a lot of fun, tie-dye t-shirts, games, music, and good food as well.
In Montenegro
July 16, 2010
A team from St. James United Methodist Church in Athens, GA arrived in Montenegro yesterday. We drove over to Dubrovnik, Croatia to pick them up. We’ll be in Podgorica, Montenegro for a couple of days and then head up to the mountains to run a youth camp all next week.
They are a great group and we’re looking forward to some good times together. I’ll post more news as we have it . . . .
New places!
June 15, 2010
Here’s an update from Christina Melton –
Last week, Violeta and I and some friends of ours from Nikšić went up to the mountains to scope out possible hikes for teenage camp, which is approaching quickly!
We set out from Nikšić and expected a 2 hour drive; however, we came upon road construction and were forced to go backwards and take another road (typical Montenegro!), which meant lots more time on the car
I thought that I had seen all the pretty places in Montenegro, but I was completely wrong. Thanks to the road closing, we got to drive past Piva Lake, which was once a deep canyon and was then filled with water. I think I have found my new favorite lake! (I didn’t take this picture, but this is what we saw as we headed up the road away from the lake!)
We then set out for Durmitor National Park with just under a quarter tank of gas. After about 30 minutes of beautiful, hilly, sheep-filled landscape, our gas light came on. Oops.
Thankfully, we made it to a gas station by driving downhill in neutral, but we had a moment there when we though we were going to get stuck in the middle of nowhere!
Here are some pictures (again, that I did not take, but our friend from Nikšić took along the way) to give you an idea of what the middle of nowhere looks like:
The drive was much longer, but indescribably beautiful. I never expected to see snow in June, but there it is!!
Of course, this is proof that inconveniences like closed roads can actually lead to better adventures than we initially have in mind.
Vladimir Cizmanski — News from Montenegro
June 15, 2010
Here’s a recent update from Vladimir Cizmanski, pastor of the Brethren Assembly in Podgorica, Montenegro. Our own Christina Melton leads the youth ministry there and helps with the worship team.
We are grateful for all your prayers for us and the advancement of His kingdom in Montenegro.
Before us there is a lot of work and there are many needs present, but we are thankful to God that He gives us the strength to go on.
In memoriam
Some sad news which took us by complete surprise was the passing away from this world of our sister in Christ, Biserka. She had already been in hospital for a long time, but there had been no signs that she would be taken from us. She was only 56 years old and was one of the first people to give her life to the Lord at the start of our ministry.
We believe she has gone a much better place and is freed of the shackles that she wanted to be free of and now is looking at the face of her Saviour Jesus Christ.
Moving house
Some of already know that we moved into another house which is twice as large as the old one. We are very glad to have left the house where we have been for 10 years and which, especially in winter, had lots of problems with damp. This was one of the reasons for us moving, but the other reason was the need for a larger place that we could use for housing guests.
Tanja and Denis’s wedding
We are glad that Tanja and Denis from the Congo got married. It is a great challenge to find another individual knows the Lord and to sort out all the other things in married life together.
Even though we miss Tanja, because she now lives in Belgrade, we are happy that she has found her fellow-traveller through life.
Formation of a Vision and Mission Statement
In the course of the life of our small fellowship we have come to the conclusion that we should facet he challenge of asking ourselves what we are and what our desire is to become. For several weeks we have been getting together for special meetings to talk about a statement of our vision and mission. I believe that we are near the end of this process and that we will soon have a quality and an all-encompassing idea which will be an encouragement to hold fast to the goal of our existence.
We are very glad that the teenager work is continuing. A teenagers’ camp is very soon upon us, for which interest has been constantly growing. We believe that a new generation of people are coming that need even now to get to know Christ. We are praying that the camp would be a place where many will get to know the beauty and majesty of life with Him.
Picnics, 1st and 21st May
According to a well-established tradition, this year we had outings in nature where about 50 people attend each of them. Many of them were teenagers. This is a good opportunity for informal conversations, getting to know friends and for encouragement. On both outings there were people there that we had not had any contact with before. On the second picnic on the 21st May our guests were the Majerskis and David Brown from Northern Ireland. Brother David shared a message from the Bible which completed our enjoyment in natural surroundings that God created for us.
